let’s go back and keep buzzing.”
“The Keeper’s plans will go forward regardless of what we do or don’t do,” said the Oversoul.
“I hope so,” said Shedemei. “But I do think she cares very much what people do. Down there on Earth, of course, but also here in this ship. She cares what happens.”
“Maybe all the Keeper cares about is the people of Earth. Maybe she no longer cares about the people of Harmony. Maybe I should go home to Harmony now and tell my otherself that our mission is over and we can let humans there do whatever they want.”
“Or maybe the Keeper still wants you here,” said Shedemei. Then a new thought occurred to her. “Maybe she still needs the powers of the starship. The cloak of the starmaster.”
“Maybe the Keeper needs
you
,” said the Oversoul.
Shedemei laughed. “What, I have some seeds and embryos up here that she wants me to put down somewhere on Earth? All she has to do is send me a dream and I’ll plant wherever she says.”
“So we go on waiting,” said the Oversoul.
“No, we go on
prodding
,” answered Shedemei. “Like Chebeya did. We roust the old she-bear from her den and goad her.”
“I’m not sure I like the implications of your metaphor. She-bears are destructive and dangerous when they’ve been goaded.”
“But they do give you their undivided attention.” Shedemei laughed again.
“I don’t think you have enough respect yet for the power of the Keeper.”
“What power? All we’ve seen from the Keeper up to now is dreams.”
“If that’s all you’ve seen,” said the Oversoul, “then you haven’t been looking.”
“Really?”
“The gornaya, for instance. That massif of impossibly high mountains. The ancient geological data from before the departure of humans forty million years ago shows no tectonic formation or movement that could have caused this. The plates in this area weren’t moving in the right direction to cause such incredible folding and uplift. Then, suddenly, the Cocos plate started moving northward with far more speed and force than any tectonic movement ever recorded. It attacked the Caribbean plate far faster than it could be subducted.”
Shedemei sighed. “I’m a biologist. Geology is barely comprehensible to me.”
“You understand
this,
though. A dozen ranges of mountains with peaks above ten kilometers in height. And they were lifted up within the first ten million years.”
“Is that fast?”
“’Even now, the Cocos plate is still moving northward three times faster than any other plate on Earth. That means that underneath the Earth’s crust, there’s a current of molten rock that is flowing northward very rapidly—the same current that caused North America to rift along the Mississippi Valley, the same current that crumpled all of Central America into pieces and jammed them together and . . .”
The Oversoul fell silent.
“What?”
“I’m doing a little research for a moment.”
“Well, pardon me for interrupting,” said Shedemei.
“This has to have begun before humans left Earth,” said the Oversoul.
“Yes?”
“The earthquakes, the volcanos out along the Galapagos ridge—what
was
it that encased the Earth in ice for a while? In my memory, it was all linked with human misbehavior—with wars, nuclear and biological weapons. But how exactly did those things
cause
the Earth to become uninhabitable?”
“I love watching a brilliant mind at work,” said Shedemei.
“I will have to search all my records from that time period,” said the Oversoul, “and see whether I can rule out the possibility that it was the movement of the Cocos plate, and not the warfare directly, that caused the destruction of the habitable zones of Earth.”
“You’re saying that the warfare might have caused the Cocos plate to move? That’s absurd.”
The Oversoul ignored her scoffing. “Why did
all
human life leave Earth? The diggers and angels managed to survive. I never thought to question it
“The Keeper’s plans will go forward regardless of what we do or don’t do,” said the Oversoul.
“I hope so,” said Shedemei. “But I do think she cares very much what people do. Down there on Earth, of course, but also here in this ship. She cares what happens.”
“Maybe all the Keeper cares about is the people of Earth. Maybe she no longer cares about the people of Harmony. Maybe I should go home to Harmony now and tell my otherself that our mission is over and we can let humans there do whatever they want.”
“Or maybe the Keeper still wants you here,” said Shedemei. Then a new thought occurred to her. “Maybe she still needs the powers of the starship. The cloak of the starmaster.”
“Maybe the Keeper needs
you
,” said the Oversoul.
Shedemei laughed. “What, I have some seeds and embryos up here that she wants me to put down somewhere on Earth? All she has to do is send me a dream and I’ll plant wherever she says.”
“So we go on waiting,” said the Oversoul.
“No, we go on
prodding
,” answered Shedemei. “Like Chebeya did. We roust the old she-bear from her den and goad her.”
“I’m not sure I like the implications of your metaphor. She-bears are destructive and dangerous when they’ve been goaded.”
“But they do give you their undivided attention.” Shedemei laughed again.
“I don’t think you have enough respect yet for the power of the Keeper.”
“What power? All we’ve seen from the Keeper up to now is dreams.”
“If that’s all you’ve seen,” said the Oversoul, “then you haven’t been looking.”
“Really?”
“The gornaya, for instance. That massif of impossibly high mountains. The ancient geological data from before the departure of humans forty million years ago shows no tectonic formation or movement that could have caused this. The plates in this area weren’t moving in the right direction to cause such incredible folding and uplift. Then, suddenly, the Cocos plate started moving northward with far more speed and force than any tectonic movement ever recorded. It attacked the Caribbean plate far faster than it could be subducted.”
Shedemei sighed. “I’m a biologist. Geology is barely comprehensible to me.”
“You understand
this,
though. A dozen ranges of mountains with peaks above ten kilometers in height. And they were lifted up within the first ten million years.”
“Is that fast?”
“’Even now, the Cocos plate is still moving northward three times faster than any other plate on Earth. That means that underneath the Earth’s crust, there’s a current of molten rock that is flowing northward very rapidly—the same current that caused North America to rift along the Mississippi Valley, the same current that crumpled all of Central America into pieces and jammed them together and . . .”
The Oversoul fell silent.
“What?”
“I’m doing a little research for a moment.”
“Well, pardon me for interrupting,” said Shedemei.
“This has to have begun before humans left Earth,” said the Oversoul.
“Yes?”
“The earthquakes, the volcanos out along the Galapagos ridge—what
was
it that encased the Earth in ice for a while? In my memory, it was all linked with human misbehavior—with wars, nuclear and biological weapons. But how exactly did those things
cause
the Earth to become uninhabitable?”
“I love watching a brilliant mind at work,” said Shedemei.
“I will have to search all my records from that time period,” said the Oversoul, “and see whether I can rule out the possibility that it was the movement of the Cocos plate, and not the warfare directly, that caused the destruction of the habitable zones of Earth.”
“You’re saying that the warfare might have caused the Cocos plate to move? That’s absurd.”
The Oversoul ignored her scoffing. “Why did
all
human life leave Earth? The diggers and angels managed to survive. I never thought to question it
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